What does compunctious mean?
Compunctious means Exhibiting compunctions, scruples, feelings of guilt..
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Pronunciation varies by accent · adjective
Exhibiting compunctions, scruples, feelings of guilt..
Come you Spirits, That tend on mortall thoughts, vnſex me here, And fill me from the Crowne to the Toe, top-full Of direſt Crueltie: make thick my blood, Stop vp th’acceſſe, and paſſage to Remorſe, That no compunctious viſitings of Nature Shake my fell purpoſe, nor keepe peace betweene Th’effect, and hit.
Nothing can be conceived more hard than the heart of a thoroughbred metaphysician. It comes nearer to the cold malignity of a wicked spirit than to the frailty and passion of a man. It is like that of the principle of evil himself, incorporeal, pure, unmixed, dephlegmated, defecated evil. It is no easy operation to eradicate humanity from the human breast. What Shakspeare calls “the compunctious visitings of nature” will sometimes knock at their hearts, and protest against their murderous speculations. But they have a means of compounding with their nature. Their humanity is not dissolved. They only give it a long prorogation.
Use compunctious when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.
Compunctious means Exhibiting compunctions, scruples, feelings of guilt..
The closest synonym depends on the sentence and intended sense.
The opposite depends on the specific sense.
Come you Spirits, That tend on mortall thoughts, vnſex me here, And fill me from the Crowne to the Toe, top-full Of direſt Crueltie: make thick my blood, Stop vp th’acceſſe, and paſſage to Remorſe, That no compunctious viſitings of Nature Shake my fell purpoſe, nor keepe peace betweene Th’effect, and hit.
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